Susan G. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood: An Application of Neo-PR

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All organizations deal with risk and therefore it is safe to assume that almost all organizations face crises. Two questions arise: What specific risks does an individual organization face and how can those risks manifest into crises? These are important queries and ones that have garnered countless analyses in public relations and crisis communication scholarship (Heath, 2002; Jordan-Meier, 2011; Kent, 2010). However, one type of organization largely ignored in these analyses has been the non-profit organization. Indeed, it is likely often assumed that non-profit organizations, by their very nature, are immune to risk (other than the risk of lack of financial support) and therefore immune to crisis. In truth, non-profit organizations are as susceptible to risk and crisis as any other type of organization. Further, in today’s practice of public relations, it is worth examining this type of organizational crisis in the context of new thinking
about how crisis communication is, and can be, done. Specifically, Caldiero’s (2010) concept of “Neo-PR” can shed light on postmodern crisis communication practices and implications. This chapter examines the Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood crisis in the context of Neo-PR.